Lupita Nyong’o on the red carpet at the SAG Awards (Picture: Mike Blake/Reuters)

Was anyone else who watched E!’s red carpet coverage of the SAG Awards Sunday night cringing at the ‘manicam’ controversy?

For those of you who have no idea what this is, it’s a miniature red carpet where female celebrities are asked to walk their perfectly manicured, bejewelled hands down it so us mere mortals can gasp at their perfectly filed, diamond dripped fingers.

However, Sunday night’s SAG Awards saw Reese Witherspoon, Julianne Moore AND Jennifer Aniston all reject the opportunity to show off their manicured mitts because, well, they realised how utterly ridiculous it was too.

This seemed like the final straw following a series of interviewees being caught out asking female A-listers the most ridiculous things, whilst their male colleagues got the ‘meatier’ questions.

Just look at how Scarlett Johansson reacted when she was asked about her workout regime in a press conference…

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I will admit, the red carpets are probably my favourite part of awards season, and I do love seeing what everyone is wearing, but this is more for my interest in fashion rather than how good a woman looks. And I also get that celebs have a duty to plug the names of the designers that made them look so fabulous, kitting them out in free, expensive and sometimes even custom gowns and jewellery.

However the fashion parade should end there, but it doesn’t. The red carpet interviews then generally go on to talk about their manicures and pedicures, their diets, their post-ceremony regime, their exercise routine on the build up to awards season, and even asking how it feels to be walking down the red carpet after having a baby; and it’s just boring.

Come on, Cate Blanchett sums it up with her reaction when the camera did this to her…

Whilst I am interested in the fashion as much as the next person, there’s more to these women than their clothes, and we should be hearing about it.

I want to hear about how these incredible women got into the industry, the charities they support, their inspirations, their passions, their favourite book even.

Sunday night for example, we may have got to hear that Laverne Cox was wearing Johanna Johnson, but no one bothered to ask her about her work promoting equality for the transgender community.

We may have found out that Joanne Froggatt was wearing an Honor dress and a humongous engagement ring, but we didn’t get to hear what it was like tackling the subject of rape in Downtown Abbey.

And Amanda Peet may have got asked more than what she was wearing, but it was in fact only about her husband’s work for Game of Thrones, no one bothered to ask her about her upcoming role in Togetherness.

It’s despairing not only as a young woman, but as someone who lives and breathes celebrity culture to see these intelligent, ambitious and powerful women being reduced to nothing but twirling, aesthetically pleasing beauty pageant queens.

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The innocuous questions they are asked are cringeworthy and deny them the opportunity to use their red carpet time to inspire the minds of the audience watching.

Amy Poehler, actress and co-founder of online community Smart Girls, recently spearheaded the campaign #AskHerMore that called for female actresses and musicians to be asked questions other than what they are wearing.

Putting this campaign into practice at the SAGs, female celebrities were asked questions more than the fabric on their back, and their answers were intelligent and interesting, whilst their surprise proved how rare it was to be asked such meaningful things.

Hopefully this is the first step towards reminding young girls that women aren’t clothes horses, and although they may be head to toe in Chanel, Givenchy or Tom Ford, they also have substance, opinions and a voice.

And if you don’t agree with me, just watch Kevin Spacey being asked the same questions his female colleagues do and see how utterly ridiculous it is for yourself.